It's hard for me to decide between the two, since I adore both styles. But, I do love that modern kitchen!

I vote for a kitchen with food and family!!!

There are so many great elements in both! What is most important I think is functionality. As a designer and someone that LOVES to cook, I appreciate any kitchen that makes my work easier. dedicated zones, room for prep etc. Trends will come and go, but efficiency will always be appreciated. One of the things Julia Child had in her kitchen was a simple pegboard to hang her pots and pans within easy reach. Probably not that glam, but it was probably great for ease. Here's to making it look beautiful, and work like a champ!

Traditional, a kitchen is the heart of the home, where memories are made and kept. For me, the contemporary is the cafe at the art museum: yes Beautiful, but a here and now.

I like modern conveniences, but prefer old timey flair. I am aware that time saving devices exist, but I still make things like dough and whipped cream by hand.

Traditional for me every time remember its your home you have to feel comfortable in it.

I like traditional because it never goes completely out of style. We built our "contemprary" house 26 years ago and now our modern kitchen is not so modern and causing a little issue as we are trying to sell the house. Yes, we updated countertops, applicances and flooring but still --- not so modern as "Modern."

I would call the 1st image transitional and the 2nd contemporary - anyone else agree?

I love both styles! Hard to choose!

Contemporary

The top image looks more Transitional than Traditional.

Modern looks uber slick - love it

Feeny's Nightmare::[houzz=]

I like both. My kitchen is transitional.

Almost, but not quite ornate enough, studio 10001. Now THIS is Feeny's nightmare:

That's horrendous, feeny.

feeny, I think that is where Alfred makes soup for Bruce Wayne.

Traditional is my favorite. Fun to create modern for others but in my home Traditional feels best.

This is a tough one as both are done well. I'm flopping back and forth like a fish :) but I actually prefer the flat panel cabinets with the waterfall edge in the modern kitchen.

Feeny, that kitchen is NASTY but wouldn't it make for a great before picture, sledgehammer anyone???

Traditional; it's warmer and more inviting. To me traditional says "people live and eat and talk here" while modern says "people sometimes have to grab something out of the fridge on their way someplace else".

Both together!

Both work no doubt but I am more to the traditional !

Traditional evokes warmth. It says "come in and share a cup of coffee and a bit of gossip!"

I like to mix both.

I love both looks. Personally, I do prefer modern with hints of traditional!

The modern is nice but only to visit, the traditional is what I would want to wake up to with the smell of home cooked eggs and homefries with a fresh smoothie on the side.

Cheeky fellow!

Both kitchens look beautiful. To each, his own!
They both seem to have great flow, and an open feel. That's my favorite aspect in a cooking workspace.

For me its modern…no contest. The clean, uncluttered lines are soothing. I find traditional designs too busy – mental overload of patterns, textures, nooks & crannies. Many traditional kitchen designs also tend to be dark and “heavy”. The one here goes too far in the other direction, IMHO. It’s too white, almost clinical, like a hospital kitchen. For me “traditional” is my grandmother’s kitchen. Love grandma, but I want _my_ kitchen.
Modern (or contemporary actually) can be very warm and inviting if you fill it with warm earth tones, natural materials, and light woods like bamboo. If you consider Japanese design, it’s actually very traditional and timeless, yet has the clean lines of contemporary design. Someone mentioned Scandinavian design, which is also great, though I find it a little cooler and more Spartan than Japanese.

It is interesting that a traditional kitchen received the highest vote (my vote too) while designers seem to want to move everyone into a modern kitchen. One thing I really dislike about the "new" kitchen styles is the open shelving. Do any of these designers or owners cook? If so they must need to wash dishes almost every time they are used due to the dust and kitchen grease which accumulates. Give me closed kitchen cabinets every time!

Can I say traditional but modern? Most modern kitchens seem cold and uninviting to me, built for show and designed to impress other people. I want my kitchen to say "This is my home. Be comfortable and feel welcome." I'll take traditional but designed around modern appliances and light sources.

The traditional white kitchen is the kitchen I've always wanted. It's perfect! And because I don't cook, it would never get dirty; not even that gorgeous testament to impracticality capping island, that marvelous slab of extremely porous Italian marble, just waiting to absorb everything that touches it. Sealed, you say? Bah, I counter! There's no such thing! Coasters all around, please. Yes, for water!! For water is all we shall serve in the perfect kitchen. Breakfast? Bacon? You're not listening... In the perfect kitchen, the stove doesn't work. It's a prop, as are the refrigerator and the microwave and the steamer. They all just sit there looking pretty and clean, like families in 1950s sitcoms. When we're hungry we eat at a restaurant, and that's where we leave our grease and crumbs and dirty dishes. See? Isn't it perfect?

Oh... I don't particularly like the contemporary kitchen because it's too cold and uninviting. I don't feel like I could relax and enjoy a meal there. M

Traditional kitchen is always the best!! It always feels like home with your family together

Either can be really beautiful (as in the examples above), but as I don't want my kitchen to look dated and passé in a few years I'll be sticking with traditional. Replacing appliances and touch ups are much less expensive than a whole kitchen remodel.

A mix of the two works well. I prefer an organic modern/tradition kitchen.

U

White traditional kitchens are so beautiful!! I would love to have one. To my eyes, the details of moldings and the like resemble the beautiful scrollwork of a wedding cake. How wonderful to have a daily reminder of such a special day!

Modern reminds me too much of my childhood kitchen and mom's trendy MCM design aesthetic. Not unlike Betty Draper's kitchen. While I have warm memories of that kitchen, today's modern kitchens leave me cold.

Living in a 1938-built Cape Cod, my kitchen was mostly original with carpenter created cupboards. A modern kitchen would certainly have looked out-of-place. Paying honor to the original period was logical with black and white check floors, off-white cupboards with glass in two of the upper units, bead board wainscoting, tin tile back splash and a farm sink. The two doors under the sink are cut away in the mode of many 1930s kitchens...showing off the "new" indoor plumbing! Love it!

I usually lean for more modern kitchens. If I must choose between the two examples pictured, I would go for the traditional kitchen.
Maybe I need to recalibrate my definition of traditional? The word evokes flourish - raised panel doors, crown molding, carved island posts, ornate backsplash designs over the range... The top kitchen reads almost transitional to me - spare, clean, with traditional touches like the faucet, hardware, and apron front sink.

(... Thankfully, I have plenty of time to study kitchen designs on Houzz before I determine what approach to take for my not-MCM-1965 ranch. I will be needed help, oh yes.)

ETA: The traditional kitchen does look more "traditional" after all in the full-size version of the picture.

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/5884215/thumbs/Kitchen-Designs

After living with traditional for most of my 55 years, I'm ready to enter the modern world!

I voted traditional, because it didn't let me to vote for both; but, I really like both styles, and the mixed of the two on my designs. You can create a Traditional with a Modern twist, and a Modern with the warmth and coziness of the traditional.

Depends on the house, the house we almost bought I would have done modern, this house the one we actually bought is 113 years old and has many original details, including a kitchen that is probably 100 years old. Modern would not work in it unless we gutted everything.

For me, traditional feels like home. Modern is more like a restaurant.

Love the modern one in this picture because it incorporates the earthy/natural look as well.

I started traditional because I thought it's what I was supposed to like ... but my true love is modern and I'm headed that way and slowly changing everything possible as much as I can.

Traditional is more relaxing and timeless.

Both the kitchens pictured here are
quite lovely. The Modern one is perfect as is but nevertheless, I think I would
still tend more to the adoption of the Traditional one after a few minor
changes.

Generally speaking, though, I do
tend to prefer traditional kitchens. Not over-the-top ones that look like the
designers did not know what else to pack into the one space like the example
shown by @feeny above. That one left me gobsmacked – never saw the like!

Traditional kitchens that are warm
and charming and look like the family gathering/nurturing space are what I
like. The kind where you look at them and you can already smell the bread and
cookies baking; or you feel a comforting hot chocolate or cup of tea in a
lovely bone china mug is just waiting
for you to sip and warm you hands on while you snuggle in a corner and gab with
the cook….that’s the kind of space I'd like for my home.

Some of the modern trendy kitchens look like industrial diners/ company cafeterias. They come across as sterile. They sort of make great pictures or brochures, but not in my house.

I know its an old thread.

I do not want an upscale Burger King or Wendy’s in my house.